How to get a job at a luxury fashion brand

The fashion industry offers many career possibilities. There are many different types of roles as well as many different types of companies you can work for. From emerging brands to the iconic names of the industry, up to luxury companies.

Many dream of working at brands such as Dior, Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton… thinking they are going to get into one of the best fashion houses in the industry unaware that these brands fall into a specific category: they are not just fashion companies, they are luxury companies.

The luxury sector operates on a different model than the other fashion brands in the industry.

How to Get a Job at a Luxury Fashion Brand

If you want to get a job at a luxury company you need to understand the dynamics of the luxury industry.

These are the most prestigious brands in the industry. They aim at excellence across all the chain. Contrary to most fashion brands that have focus only on their products, luxury brands develop a whole experience. It’s not just about the product, is about the image, and the perception of the brand that has to be aspirational for customers and potential ones. That’s why you see the biggest brands organize fashion exhibitions or in-store experiences. Obviously, the circle closes with the quality of the products and the service offered which must be impeccable. Everything at a luxury fashion company is taken care of down to the smallest detail: from the design to the choice of materials, up to the packaging.

A luxury customer is not just buying a bag or a pair of shoes. They buy a piece that is timeless, like an investment. The whole experience needs to be on an exceptional level. 

The luxury value proposition is about exclusivity, heritage, and timelessness. Luxury fashion brands are vertically integrated in terms of retail and manufacturing. Because of the high level of standard, they have to deliver, they control everything in their value chain.

So if you want to get a job at a luxury fashion brand you need to be first of all someone who understands the high standard these companies operate to so you can do your job accordingly. 

Before we begin, let’s sort out one big common misconception. 

You may think that working for luxury brands involves studying fashion, or having some exceptional skills because they are so notorious and iconic names in the industry. But the truth is: first, you don’t absolutely need to attend a fashion school to get a job at a luxury fashion brand. Not everyone working in fashion or luxury studied fashion. The majority of people have a traditional degree: marketing, management, business, communication, literature, art, history…

So if you believe your lack of experience prevents you from getting a job at a luxury brand, then forget these myths, and keep reading. You do feel more motivated now, right? 😉

In this article, we are going to explain which type of employees luxury fashion companies are looking for, the steps you need to do to land a job or internship at a luxury House and give some examples of luxury fashion jobs you can do even at the beginning of your career. 

What do luxury fashion companies look for?

You are probably wondering how getting a job at a luxury company is different from a company that is part of a different segment. We have the answer to it. 

Every luxury fashion brand has a careers page where it explains its mission, values, work culture, and what it’s looking for in its candidates. Let’s take a look at what some of them say. 

FENDI 

“Our objective is to attract and retain individuals with core business skills and encourage internal mobility to leverage skills most effectively, accelerate professional growth and promote inter-cultural exchange. Our successes – both past, present and those to come – are all down to our people. We look for creative, curious, passionate and open-minded people with a desire to embrace Fendi’s culture and values.”

PRADA GROUP

“The Prada Group is constantly in search of the best talents – at all skill levels and previous experiences – who would support the development of new growth projects and a successful vision for the future.”

LVMH 

“We hire creative thinkers who have a pragmatic business mind, an entrepreneurial spirit, an international outlook, and an appreciation for luxury goods.”

KERING

“We are looking for people with a passion for luxury, the drive to make a difference and the desire to shape the future of our business.”

While it’s true that these are broad values and skills, and that the specific skills for each job are mentioned in the job descriptions, we have to look at the big picture here, aka what type of person luxury fashion companies look for to fit into the company culture. 

Take any example we just showed, or find another one at any brand you like, and ask yourself this: am I a creative/ passionate/innovative person? What makes me this person? How can I show it to the company when I apply for the job? 

If you think about it, at no time do companies mention they look for someone with a fashion degree, impeccable style, or an expert in fashion trends (even though this could still be useful for some roles). In fact, have you noticed that Fendi, LVMH, Kering, and the Prada Group don’t mention anything about fashion skills at all? And these are just a few examples, but there are others. This doesn’t mean you don’t need to have fashion knowledge! It is important. But what these brands search for in their candidates is a broader profile, with a set of hard and soft generic skills that you may have or can acquire in another work field.

This means you can totally get a job at a luxury company even if you’ve never worked in this segment or the fashion industry in general, and we hope this already gave you a boost of confidence and motivation to look for a luxury fashion job 😉

Tips To Get A Luxury Fashion Job

Do I need previous experience in fashion to get a job at a luxury brand? 

I’ve been mentoring people who want to get a job at fashion and luxury companies for years. Many ask if it’s necessary to have previous experience at another fashion company before going to a luxury brand but the truth is that you can get started with a luxury brand directly. So your first job in the industry, or better – an internship -, can be with Louis Vuitton or Hermès or any of your favorite luxury companies directly. Luxury companies hire interns as well, they don’t hire only people with experience. Actually interning directly from the beginning at a luxury fashion brand is the best option because you’ll understand the dynamic of this segment of the industry. If you know that your end goal is to get an internship or job at a luxury fashion brand, then start directly with one of these brands. 

Skills to get a luxury fashion job

Let’s begin by saying that the skills for a career in luxury fashion depend a lot on the type of role you would like to pursue in this niche. Besides a couple of skills that are common between different roles, like Excel, each fashion career has its own specific skill set, as creativity is not the only driver of the fashion industry. That’s why we recommend reading the job description carefully to identify the skills required for the specific role.

Having a skill set tailored to the job of your dreams is what will make you valuable on the market, and it’s especially important to be an expert in your field if you want to work in luxury fashion companies where the best of the best work. And you can actually develop and show your knowledge if you have zero experience. Be proactive, analyze luxury fashion Houses with an analytical eye to understand what type of work they are doing, and develop the necessary skills according to the job you are looking for.

So even if we do always recommend to read carefully a job description to know what are the specific skills of that role, these are some common skills luxury brands look at when hiring interns and managers. 

Attention to detail 

Luxury fashion brands strive for excellence and provide each product and service at high standards. Therefore, having attention to detail is important to provide a complete, luxurious experience for the customer so that they don’t find an unpleasant even minor error in the product, its packaging, on the website, etc. that would make their experience worse, which consequently would negatively affect the brand’s reputation. 

Organizational skills

Organization skills are the basis of every job well executed, and they are paramount in luxury jobs that involve many tasks to reach high-quality products or services. An organized person knows what is necessary, what to prioritize, and how to be efficient to deliver the best work on time (or even earlier). Organization skills show responsibility and guarantee trust from your boss and the whole team. Whatever career you seek in luxury fashion, being super organized is important.

Microsoft Excel 

The luxury industry may be all glamorous, but behind the result of clothes that you find in stores, amazing campaigns, and any other finished product or service you see, really, there is a team working on Excel spreadsheets every day to organize and analyze the information to make important decisions and build strategies for the brand. From analyzing sales, marketing strategies, and past ready-to-wear collection performances to predicting trends and sales forecasts to managing sample tracking between PRs and stylists, Excel is used to analyze but also to organize all of the fashion work.

Languages

Fashion is an international industry and you will be in touch with many people from different cultures and countries. Most global luxury fashion brands were founded in Italy, France, the U.S., and the U.K., which is where they are still based today, plus they have offices around the world. This is why English, Italian, and French are the most popular languages to speak if you want to work in luxury fashion. Start learning a new language today: download an app on your smartphone, watch movies and videos, and read books. Practice it daily and set the goal to become fluent asap.

Passion and industry knowledge

Luxury fashion brands are looking for people who are beyond passionate, curious, and with extensive industry knowledge. Luxury fashion is a competitive world, and a prestigious one, composed of legendary fashion brands – some of which have been founded over a century, and have big prestige. So being just slightly curious and reading about fashion once in a while is not enough if you want to stand out among other candidates. You need to have a real passion for the fashion industry, which you need to constantly nurture by informing yourself as much as you can about the history of fashion and how the industry works.

Needless to say, when you are applying to a company, you need to study it in depth – its history, fashion shows, iconic products, campaigns, etc. to prove you are passionate about it. This information is available on the official websites of the brands, so you can find easily all you are looking for to learn. 

On the other hand, we are not only talking about passion for fashion but a trait of your personality in general – like passion for learning something new and growing as an individual and a professional, as well as passion for the particular brand and career you want to pursue. Which brings us to the next topic. 

What are the steps to get a job at a luxury fashion brand? 

1. Identify the luxury brand you want to work in

First thing first, you have to know what are luxury fashion companies so you can start preparing your applications. Remember that you need to tailor your applications to each company and position. Please don’t write one version of your resume and cover letter to use for all the jobs or internships. You need to tailor your documents and to do so you have to be very clear with the company you are about to apply for. 

There are two main luxury conglomerates: LVMH and Kering.

The fashion & leather goods sector of the LVMH Group includes Loewe, Moynat, Louis Vuitton, Berluti, Rimowa, Patou, Loro Piana, Fendi, Céline, Christian Dior, Emilio Pucci, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Marc Jacobs.

The Couture & leather goods sector of the Kering Group includes Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, and Brioni.

Together with choosing the brand you like the most, your choice can also be influenced by where you live, or the fashion capital you dream of living in? Luxury companies have offices around the world, not in every country, of course, but they do have teams working for them from different parts of the world. 

It’s unlikely that you can work remotely for a luxury brand because of the control these brands have over the entire value chain. So you need to be willing to move where the headquarters and offices are located. The majority are in the fashion capitals: New York, London, Paris, and Milan. Some other cities have some offices are well. When you go online and you do your job search, filter by countries and choose yours to see if they have any office near to you.

What are the career opportunities at luxury fashion brands?

As we said at the beginning of this article, there are many career opportunities in fashion and this also applies to luxury companies as well. 

Think that luxury brands are still companies so there are all the necessary departments to run any other business. 

There are career opportunities in any department from management to design, styling, and even legal and finance.  

If you are considering a career in luxury, these are some of the jobs you can explore (remember for each of these careers mentioned there are different levels. If you have no or little experience you might want to look for internships or assistant positions in one of these roles. For example when we mention Buyer and E-commerce coordinator you might want to look for Buying Intern, Buying Assistant, E-commerce Intern, E-commerce Assistant…)

• Buyer
• Merchandiser
• Brand Manager
• Brand Heritage Coordinator
• E-commerce Coordinator
• E-Merchandiser
• Digital Buyer
• Stylist
• Designer
• Pattern Maker
• Product Developer
• Texile Research
• Seamstress
• PR, events and communication
• HR
• Marketing
• Digital Marketing
• Influencer Marketing
• Supply Chain
• Sustainability
• CRM
• Client Experience
• Retail Coordinator
• Visual Merchandiser
• Quality Coordinator

3. Look for a luxury fashion internship 

We always say at Glam Observer that internships are your entry ticket to breaking into the fashion industry. So if you are a student, recent graduate, or someone with no or little experience, you should look for internships at these luxury fashion companies 

Luxury fashion companies offer many internships – we know it for sure, and by the way, every Friday we send you a list of the latest fashion jobs and internships in this newsletter. 

To apply, you need a strong resume in order to stand out among 500 applicants on average who send their resume for the same job. It is especially important if you apply for luxury fashion internships because they get so many applications that they spend just a couple of seconds analyzing a CV. We did say this world was competitive. You can read here everything about how to prepare a stellar resume even if you don’t have much experience. 

In addition to your resume, we strongly advise you to write a cover letter, even if it’s optional. This document can multiply your chances to get in, because a) it allows the company to get to know you better and notice your passion and motivation, and b) it helps you to stand out among a giant pool of applicants. Explain in your cover letter why you love X luxury fashion brand so much, how your values coincide, and how your background can be a good fit for the company. 

4. Where to find luxury fashion jobs and internships 

The first thing you want to do when you are looking for fashion jobs at a particular luxury company is to go to their official website to see if they have any open vacancies. Every brand usually has a “Work with us” or “Careers” section on their website. For example, this is the Louis Vuitton careers page. 

Another way of searching for job offers is to go directly to the websites of fashion groups: LVMH, Kering, and Prada Group (Prada, Miu Miu, Church’s). The good thing about this type of platform is that all the opportunities are posted in one place. So you don’t have to look at each brand’s website one by one. 

Many luxury companies post their job offers on LinkedIn. The best way to find them is to go to the “Jobs” section and type as a keyword the role that interests you. For instance – stylist, fashion designer, social media manager. Or, if you are looking for fashion jobs in general, you can just type “fashion” and the country or city where you want to work. 

LinkedIn has many options to help you in your job search.

You can filter by location, experience level, company, and job type, among others. You can also range the offers by the date posted to see the most recently published jobs first, as they tend to fill up quickly. However, use these filters with moderation, as not all companies use them. Plus, the more generic search – the better. As you will have more options to choose from, especially at the beginning of your career where you may not be as selective with the brand and the role.

Looking for fashion jobs and internships on these websites is a good way to find career opportunities. However, applying online is just the standard way to get a job in this industry. And it’s harder to get noticed if you go this route. Fashion companies love people who think outside of the box. So my best advice for you about landing a job or internship at a luxury fashion brand? Cold-email directly the company of your interest and ask them for an opportunity by submitting a spontaneous application with a strong resume and a customized cover letter. This strategy works really well also when you cannot find any job that you like on the websites mentioned above.

We hope that after reading this article, you feel more confident about getting a luxury fashion job. But if not, and the idea still makes you nervous, we invite you to our free masterclass about 3 unconventional strategies you can use in your applications to impress recruiters.